Watched all of The Terror last night. Pretty good stuff apart from a few historical inaccuracies (the expedition wasn't looking for the Northwest Passage, they were part of a larger effort to chart geomagnetism).

« Last Edit: September 30, 2018, 09:00:20 am by Sherman Tank Sex is Much More Adventurous and Interesting »

Watching through all the Arrowverse shows in chronological order (not quite airdate order, there's slight reordering all throughout to link all the crossovers up right) is a task that starts off reasonable, and then slowly reveals itself to be insane. It's doubly awful if you try doing it in Australia without a VPN, where all the shows are on different streaming services, except for Supergirl which is on none of them.

Still makes it weirdly satisfying to watch and see all the more minor crossover details turn up between shows that indicate you actually are seeing all this unfold in the right order. It also makes Arrow metatextually hilarious, because you can see the exact moment in season 2 where they decide what they want to do with The Flash and how they need to make Arrow a little more fantastical to have the two fit into the same world... and then realize when the first season of The Flash starts that they did not do enough because Arrow characters turning up in The Flash feels weird every time.

Started watching She-Ra on Netflix because it looked cute and I heard it was making dudes angry. I am loving it to bits. It's predictable (kids shows often are, whatever) but it's SO cute and I love the characters a lot. I can understand how this is making weird gross dudes angry because she has SHORTS ON under her skirt when she transforms, what a concept, and her neckline is just that -- a neckline, not a mid-chest line. Glimmer made me gasp when I first saw her because she has actual big size thighs and is still a main character who isn't there for gags. Everyone is so precious and I'm excited to see how the show fills the distance between the obviously lined up plot points.

Started watching She-Ra on Netflix because it looked cute and I heard it was making dudes angry. I am loving it to bits. It's predictable (kids shows often are, whatever) but it's SO cute and I love the characters a lot. I can understand how this is making weird gross dudes angry because she has SHORTS ON under her skirt when she transforms, what a concept, and her neckline is just that -- a neckline, not a mid-chest line. Glimmer made me gasp when I first saw her because she has actual big size thighs and is still a main character who isn't there for gags. Everyone is so precious and I'm excited to see how the show fills the distance between the obviously lined up plot points.

As someone who could only make it through a handful of the new My Little Pony episodes before realizing it was literally just a show for little bitty kids that wasn't shitty about gender -- is it worth watching at all beyond maybe just an episode to see what the fuss is about? My nephews aren't into it, just like they aren't into MLP, so I don't actually have an obligation to sit through it (they do like some stereotypically "girly" stuff, just not these specific franchises).

But so many people have such strong fucking opinions about it, and have written so many, MANY fucking words about how either masterful or repugnant it is, that I don't know if there's anything actually interesting there beyond just being a fun cartoon that maybe isn't all weird about girls. I say this as someone who was generally ambivalent about the original MLP and She-Ra as a kid (but Rainbow Brite and Jem were my fucking jams. And I have A Lot of opinions about Disney princesses. A Lot).

As someone who could only make it through a handful of the new My Little Pony episodes before realizing it was literally just a show for little bitty kids that wasn't shitty about gender -- is it worth watching at all beyond maybe just an episode to see what the fuss is about? My nephews aren't into it, just like they aren't into MLP, so I don't actually have an obligation to sit through it (they do like some stereotypically "girly" stuff, just not these specific franchises).

But so many people have such strong fucking opinions about it, and have written so many, MANY fucking words about how either masterful or repugnant it is, that I don't know if there's anything actually interesting there beyond just being a fun cartoon that maybe isn't all weird about girls. I say this as someone who was generally ambivalent about the original MLP and She-Ra as a kid (but Rainbow Brite and Jem were my fucking jams. And I have A Lot of opinions about Disney princesses. A Lot).

Lol it's not masterful, it's a kids show. I haven't seen many shows for any audience that I'd call masterful, actually. It's just a show that isn't sending horrible messages to little girls, and is actually intended to be consumed by them rather than catering to the shitty adult male audience (see: Derpy Hooves). I like children's television because it's less stressful and more colorful than adult tv, which every time I watch it makes me even tenser than my already tense adult life. Sometimes I just wanna watch a show and relax, you know? That's what this show is good for.

Other enjoyable children's shows include that space rocks show everyone can't shut up about (cute character design, good plot), Miraculous Ladybug (terrible plot and characterization, great visual character design and high-energy animation), and I just finished catching up on Dragon Prince (reminds me heavily of Avatar, which makes sense seeing as it was made by the same dude. Very good plot, average character design visually but great characterization).

A show doesn't have to be groundbreaking to be enjoyable. Sometimes people just have fun because it's nice to have fun.

I feel you, and I hope my post didn't come off as me trying to rip on people that like to watch shows aimed at younger demographics just for the fun of it. I do the same thing, and there's also plenty of media out there that I've been meaning to watch but haven't because I didn't have it in me to feel challenged.

Thanks for the other recommendations, I'll see if my nephews are familiar with the other shows you mentioned, and if not I'll lobby to give them a try. Right now, anything that isn't about dinosaurs will be a nice diversion.

Watching through all the Arrowverse shows in chronological order (not quite airdate order, there's slight reordering all throughout to link all the crossovers up right) is a task that starts off reasonable, and then slowly reveals itself to be insane. It's doubly awful if you try doing it in Australia without a VPN, where all the shows are on different streaming services, except for Supergirl which is on none of them.

Still makes it weirdly satisfying to watch and see all the more minor crossover details turn up between shows that indicate you actually are seeing all this unfold in the right order. It also makes Arrow metatextually hilarious, because you can see the exact moment in season 2 where they decide what they want to do with The Flash and how they need to make Arrow a little more fantastical to have the two fit into the same world... and then realize when the first season of The Flash starts that they did not do enough because Arrow characters turning up in The Flash feels weird every time.

I got to Supergirl in this journey, and... ooh boy, this one hurts. Going through the other three shows on the way to it makes Supergirl all the more stark, because compared to all those other shows, Supergirl treats its protagonist like shit. There's a few notes that these sorts of serialized superhero shows apparently have to hit sometime, and Supergirl hits them way faster. The 'actually, maybe this superhero is bad' trope doesn't really get going in Arrow until a decent clip into the first season (and he's meant to be the really shady one so it should've come quick), and it doesn't hit The Flash until season 2, but Supergirl gets it in the second episode. The first time the hero fails because their skills aren't enough hit Arrow and The Flash at around the episode 6-ish mark; it happens to Supergirl in the pilot, and basically the whole rest of the episode is spent beating the shit out of her.

It's also kinda funny that it was supposed to be the higher-budget one of the lot in its first season, but looks and feels really cheap in comparison. A big part of that is just that Supergirl doesn't have as visually interesting a powerset (especially since we've had so many Superman movies), so the action scenes aren't as flashy with special effects or choreography, but there's more to it I can't quite put my finger on. The aliens and the black ops military stuff feel very 'early 00s', somehow.

Also also, the show's rogues' gallery just feels kinda sad. Supergirl doesn't really have much dedicated supporting cast or villains like Green Arrow and The Flash could build their shows around (and Arrow cheated by stealing Teen Titans stuff, so that's off the table, too), so especially early on it's working with some really cut-rate names.

i wonder if a notoriously woman-hating industry (tv) cribbing from a notoriously anti-woman genre (comics) could in some way make the one show about a woman fail to hit the right beats at the right times

lately i finished Sharp Objects which was very good. I mentioned it earlier and everything I said carries through the season. It ends well.

I've also been watching Rectify (so, so good. a heavy show with a remarkable grace and lightness) when I want good TV and Penny Dreadful when I don't. full endorse on both of those as well.

Started watching She-Ra on Netflix because it looked cute and I heard it was making dudes angry. I am loving it to bits. It's predictable (kids shows often are, whatever) but it's SO cute and I love the characters a lot. I can understand how this is making weird gross dudes angry because she has SHORTS ON under her skirt when she transforms, what a concept, and her neckline is just that -- a neckline, not a mid-chest line. Glimmer made me gasp when I first saw her because she has actual big size thighs and is still a main character who isn't there for gags. Everyone is so precious and I'm excited to see how the show fills the distance between the obviously lined up plot points.

I really like the art direction and design of the show (The backgrounds in particular are simply wonderful) but feel it's held back a bit on the writing leaning a bit too heavily on the expected tropes associated with its demographic (That being kids aged 6-12ish): The bar has been raised quite high for kids' shows of late by your Steven Universes and Voltrons and whatnot and, while She-ra is certainly doing alright thus far, I hope the writing team is able to step up their game a bit as the series moves on.

I really like the art direction and design of the show (The backgrounds in particular are simply wonderful) but feel it's held back a bit on the writing leaning a bit too heavily on the expected tropes associated with its demographic (That being kids aged 6-12ish): The bar has been raised quite high for kids' shows of late by your Steven Universes and Voltrons and whatnot and, while She-ra is certainly doing alright thus far, I hope the writing team is able to step up their game a bit as the series moves on.

I agree! I think it could do with some genuine foreshadowing rather than in-your-face blunt not-really-twists that we all saw coming a mile away. THAT SAID... it's a kid's show. Kids AREN'T as good at picking up on tropes because they haven't seen them before. She-Ra is immeasurably better than the other things I've seen the 10 year olds in my life watching ("Loud House" etc), as well as other kids shows I'm fond of myself (Miraculous Ladybug sucks so bad in this department), because it actually has an intentional plot and character development, cliche though they may be. I'm hoping that it does up its standards a bit, but even if it doesn't, I don't think that kid shows should be held to the same standards as adult media. It does what it sets out to do well, which is provide a simplified plot for kids to get invested in.